VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Results are in on a survey about recess in Virginia Beach public schools.
They’re thinking about switching up recess for some students, and asked elementary school parents and staff for their input.
Tracey Olson, who sits on the school district’s recess committee, shared with us the preliminary results from more than 7,000 responses.
As it stands now, recess is usually 20 minutes either before or after PE. A new state law allows for up to 50 minutes of recess time.
Most survey respondents agreed that recess time should be separate from PE and they would like to see more of it. Most wanted to see from 21-30 minutes.
When asked where that time should come from, most staff did not want to give up any classroom time.
Virginia Beach Education Association President Kelly Walker explained, “when you start taking minutes from certain parts of the curriculum then the students will suffer when it comes to those high-stake tests.”
Walker told WAVY.com there’s also the matter of money. “In order to increase recess you would also have to hire more staff, you’d have to have folks available to monitor kids on the playground.”
Olson, who is also part of the group More Recess For Virginia Beach argues more recess isn’t a luxury for kids, it’s a necessity.
“Increased mental health wellbeing, physical wellbeing, emotional wellbeing, social wellbeing and academic … test scores will go up if given more chance to play.”
The school board will also get a look at the survey results at their meeting tomorrow.
The recess committee will be meeting again later this month to come up with a recommendation.
